American mahjong with 2 or 3 players

Short a player or two? You can still play. American mahjong has an official answer for three players and a well-known variant for two.

Three players

A three-player game plays like a normal game, with one big change: skip the Charleston. That's the official League rule. With an empty seat, the across pass has nobody to go to, so the passing is dropped altogether.

Some groups miss the Charleston and keep it with a house rule. A common one is a "ghost" fourth player, whose passes the dealer makes up. That's fine for a friendly game, as long as everyone agrees before the first hand.

Two players: Siamese Mah Jongg

For two people, the standard answer is Siamese Mah Jongg, created by Gladys Grad. Instead of empty seats, each player manages two racks, effectively playing two hands at once against each other. Like the three-player game, there's no Charleston, since there's only one opponent to pass to.

The official Siamese rules are published at mahjongg.org. They cover the deal, the walls, how the two racks interact, and scoring. They're worth reading in full before your first game, because Siamese differs from the four-player game in several small ways.

Which should you play?

• Three players: play the regular game without the Charleston.
• Two players: play Siamese, or keep a two-player session for practice and bring in two more players when you can.
• One player: play against bots online. It's the quickest way to get through a lot of hands.

Short-handed? Play online

With bots in the empty seats, you never need a full table. American mahjong is coming soon to Mahjong Live. Today you can fill a table with AI opponents in Hong Kong, Riichi, Taiwanese or Indian mahjong and get through hands at your own pace.